There are probably three things necessary if the United States government is to better provide for the American people: First, expose as baseless and harmful the pseudoscientific theories that claim to show that helping people actually hurts them, that charity is cruelty, that a higher minimum wage hurts workers, that health coverage leads to poor habits and health, that altruism doesn't "really" exist and therefore should not be engaged in, etc. Second, recount for people enough stories of actual altruism, both individual and collective, that they understand its power and are inspired to engage in it and promote it. Third, make some systemic changes in our government so that the will of the people, thus developed, can have some impact on it.

In response to public demand for impeachment hearings and pressure from Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Robert Wexler, and others, as well as electoral challenges by pro-impeachment candidates, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally caved and proposed to allow Kucinich to present impeachment in a Judiciary Committee hearing.

The hearing was then scheduled for a Friday (July 25) and scheduled to last a full two-hours (10 a.m. to noon). Then the topic was altered. Rather than being about impeachment, the hearing will be about impeachment and other supposed remedies to a lawless presidency, with the bulk of the time devoted to those other remedies. Most of those other remedies will involve, believe it or not, legislative proposals. Thus, the dererrence to future presidents who follow the Bush-Cheney tradition of violating all laws and checks on power will be the knowledge that during the administration following Bush-Cheney some bills were passed criminalizing what had always been criminal activity.

As most of you have read, heard and likely seen evidence of, 14-time Olympic Gold Medal-winning swimmer, Michael Phelps, has gotten himself into some hot water. He was allegedly photographed “smoking marijuana” with a bong while attending a party at the University of South Carolina. The enterprising photographer then sold the image to “News of the World,” a publication in the UK.

Since the photo has surfaced Phelps has been dropped from Kellogg’s marketing campaign, a move that will hit his wallet. Next, seven people who were allegedly tokin’ up with the Marylander were rounded up and arrested. An eighth (and enterprising) lad was nabbed for attempting to sell the bong on Ebay for $100,000. Now Phelps is facing a tsunami of pressure to apologize as if he were the worst example of sportsmanship since Mike Tyson threatened to “eat” Lennox Lewis’ children. (Tyson also once said, “he called me a rapist and a recluse, I’m not a recluse,” which is true, since he is – in fact – a convicted rapist. )

The moral center of humanity slowly asserts itself. Only the most powerful are too afraid to join.

You may have missed the news: At the end of May, 111 nations, including, at the last minute, Great Britain, showing the world the power of an unleashed conscience, agreed to an international ban on cluster bombs, surely one of the cruelest and, given the nature of war today, most unnecessary weapons in modern arsenals.

Among those not endorsing the treaty and MIA at the conference in Dublin where it was debated were Russia, China, Israel and, to the surprise of no one, the United States of George Bush, that increasingly isolated moral rump state of which so many are so ashamed. Indeed, the treaty is widely seen as a “diplomatic defeat” for the U.S., so identified is the Bush administration with the sanctity of its WMD.

OK, we’ve had a few days to debate and get over it. The current issue of the New Yorker has that astonishing cover featuring Barack Obama as a Muslim etc. etc. In the fireplace, the American flag burns. On the wall, a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

In short, every major Rovian stereotype aimed at the presumptive Democratic nominee and his wife now announces one of America’s oldest liberal magazines. The cartoon evokes stereotypes reminiscent of Jim Crow and Willie Horton. Whether it lampoons or promotes them is being debated.

But the New Yorker has clearly produced and distributed an indelible image based on race, religion, patriotism and an outspoken spouse---all factors that could tip the balance on the Obama candidacy.

Given the magazine’s historic commitment to balance, shouldn’t the New Yorker now give equal time to the factors that could likewise define the McCain campaign---his "McBush" one-ness with the incumbent, his age, his unbalanced temper, his misogyny?

Along those lines, we list ten suggestions that have come our way to send the New Yorker for a “fair and balanced” follow-up cover.